Truth or Dare
by thoughtsofanonymous
Summary: In an attempt to pass the time as they sail back to Storybrook from Neverland, Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Henry, Regina, Neal, Gold, and Belle decide to play Truth or Dare during their dinner. Not amused with their family banter, Hook decides to join the group and rattle their spirits by posing a sensitive question to Gold.


Henry was proud to sit in the middle and observe them all. These people, his true family, had been brought together by what started out as merely a little boy's stubborn belief in "ridiculous" notions of real life fairytales and dark magic. Breaking the curse was once nothing more than just a few code words and a pair of walkie talkies. Now they were all eating together cordially, fully aware of their pasts.

Sitting across from him, Charming had Snow wrapped in his arms and held tightly against his chest to keep her warm. Their fingers were intertwined as Charming's chin rested on her shoulder. They sat so comfortably molded against each other, like a second nature. Henry looked to the right of them to see Emma, who was smiling widely at Neal as he was forced to recount an embarrassing story from his earlier days in New York City. Emma had huddled herself in a blanket that she tightly gripped to stay warm. His Dad, Neal, was going on and on about his first job as a worker down in Penn Station. "I swear to God, the station itself is probably bigger than Storybrook. I can't tell you the number of times that I got lost on the job," he recounted enthusiastically as the people around him encouragingly laughed. Looking upwards, he met eyes with Regina and gave her an easy smile. She didn't seem to be in tune with the group's conversation, obviously not so amused by their company. Though when she looked down at Henry she smiled and gently ran her manicured fingers through his hair. He leaned into her touch as he looked to his left to observe Gold and Belle. Like Henry, Belle settled on the floor of the deck rather than up on a crate. Sitting on a crate behind her, Gold leaned forwards against his cane with an empty paper plate sitting on his lap. His free hand played with Belle's loose curls in front of him.

Henry shoved the final fourth of his hotdog into his mouth and vigorously chewed the excessive amount of bread. Mary Margaret smiled affectionately at her grandson's youthful eagerness to devour his hotdog in four bites.

Placing the paper plate down onto the ground beside him, he wiped his crumby mouth with his sleeve of his jacket. "Henry I taught you better manners than that," Regina gently scolded him. He rolled his eyes but did not object to picking up his plate and reaching to drop it in the trash bag that sat in the middle of the group. Regina grabbed a napkin from the pile beside her and wiped her son's mouth thoroughly.

"Alright Gold, your turn," Emma smiled at Gold. He nervously leaned his back against the crate as everyone turned to face him.

"You'd better just go with truth on your first one," Belle brightly smiled as she looked up to Gold's face. He grinned back at her as he sat up. "Careful dear, truth is a powerful weapon in any realm." Belle playfully rolled her eyes at him as he continued to gently roll her light brown curls around his fingers. "But alas without my magic, there aren't many dares I could possibly pull off as a cripple. Truth," he finally reasoned and looked confidently back to Emma.

Emma looked to the others in the circle for questions. Mary Margaret and David looked expectantly at her. She then looked to Neal who instantly dropped his eyes to the floorboards. Emma knew not to even go there. Before Emma could even turn to look at Henry, his arm shot right up. She laughed and motioned for him to go for it.

"Are you ever going to ask Belle to marry you?" Neal half-choked on the gulp of water he was drinking as Regina bit her lip in amusement. Gold's face went pale and his eyes grew wide. Belle covered her mouth as she couldn't suppress a few embarrassed giggles.

"Kid I know this is a game, but that's kind of crossing the boundary," Emma blurted out with shock.

Having taken a second to recompose his thoughts, Gold calmly raised his hand to Emma. "No it's quite alright," he paused and lightly sighed. "Given the state of our relationship, I'd say it is a little too soon to be considering marriage. When Belle feels confident enough with her identity and with us, then perhaps in time." He affectionately grinned down to Belle who had turned flush at the cheeks. She happily took his hand and smiled.

"How sentimental," Hook muttered as he slowly approached from behind. Neal instinctively grabbed one of Henry's shoulders to pull him a little closer. Emma turned to give Hook a look of annoyance, "Don't get crabby with us. It's not like I didn't invite you."

"Yes of course love, family game night with you lot is just what I need," he muttered bitterly. As his gaze scoured across the group his attention fell upon Belle, whose eyebrows were furrowed with disgust. "Then again," he grinned up to Gold, "I would hate to miss good show. As it turns out, I do have a question I'd like to ask."

Gold shifted uncomfortably and looked to Neal, who was already staring back with concern. Gold knew that he couldn't refuse Hook, not when he was trying to so hard to mend the broken trust with his son. He looked up to the malicious pirate and gave an expectant nod, knowing he was about to face the worst.

"How did his mother," he gestured to Neal, "really die? I think it best not to skip any of the hairy details, mate."

Henry saw as Belle's eyes immediately widen in concern to Neal. She turned to Gold, "You don't have to answer. You've already gone. It's someone else's turn," she protested.

Gold winced as he reluctantly shook his head to Belle. "No no, I must give him an answer," he finally looked at Neal. "We've agreed to be honest with each other from now on. This is something that he deserves to know."

The group sat uncomfortably as Henry felt Neal's gentle grip on his shoulder tremble.

Henry read the story. He knew what Gold had said to his dad as a child. It didn't occur to him that Gold had never confessed since their reunion in New York. Henry grabbed Neal's hand, desperately wanting to shield his Dad from what he was about to hear.

"She died long after you were taken through that portal," he began.

"When I was a kid you told me that she was dead," Neal mumbled in protest. His voice was already cracking. Henry noticed Hook's eyes narrow on Gold with building anger.

"Yes I know I did. At the time I figured she was. Many lonely years went by after I was separated from you. I became consumed with my search to find you when I ran into him," he looked up at Hook trembling with disgust. "At first, I believed that this man was responsible for taking your mother's life. Being the man I was, I wanted to kill him. It was your mother who intervened," Gold finally let the words slip out.

Henry felt Neal's fingers continue to shake. It was clear that Neal could put the rest of the pieces together. Having witnessed so many acts of sadistic murder from his father, Neal knew what the Dark One was capable of. Henry tightened his fingers around Neal's and looked up to Emma. She was distracted at their locked grasp when she slightly turned to acknowledge Henry with wide concerned eyes.

"She made a deal that would spare the Captain's life. She was going to give me a bean that would transport me to you. I wanted to find you more than I wanted to reconcile with your mother so I accepted. We were on the deck of this very ship when she told me that she had never loved me," Gold tried to keep a level tone of voice. Belle winced her eyes shut. Henry didn't want to hear the rest of the words slip out of Gold's mouth.

"It felt like she had crushed what was left of my heart," Gold huffed out. Henry shut his eyes and hid his face into his father's shaky hand. "So I ripped out her beating heart and crushed it into dust," Gold finally gasped out.

All that could follow his last words was silence.

A few quiet seconds passed before Hook walked away from the now traumatized group of people. Neal eventually pulled his hand out from Henry's grasp despite Henry's disputing squeezing fingers. He looked up to his father and was horrified. Neal didn't say anything, but his big brown eyes conveyed an indescribable expression of pain that Henry has never seen before.

"I'm so sorry Bae," Gold whispered in agony. "Please forgive me."

Neal opened his mouth for a moment, but no words came out. He just stood there shaking, and looking at Rumplestiltskin as if he were facing death itself.

Henry was never able to imagine his father as the child in his book. He had only seen the adult and never stopped to imagine the scars that may have still lingered within him. When Henry looked up to his father that night, he no longer saw his goofy Dad, Neal Cassidy. He only saw an angry and frightened little Baelfire.

Without a word, Neal quickly walked away from the group and retreated down into the bunkers.

Gold squeezed his eyes shut in agony and couldn't help but let out the sobs he was trying to desperately to restrain. Belle immediately rose to his level and pulled him in close. Henry could hear muffled words between Gold's sobs, "I'm so sorry... he'll never forgive me... oh God what have I done..."

Before Henry could hear anything else Emma jumped up from the crate and quickly offered Henry her hand, "Come on kid you shouldn't be seeing this." As if in a daze, Henry took her hand without a word and followed her to the bow of the ship. Henry quickly looked back to see Mary Margaret running towards the doorway that led to the bunkers.

They reached the front pointed edge of the Jolly Roger before Emma knelt down to his level. She gently placed her hand on his cheek as she tried to study him, "You okay?"

"I'm alright," Henry heavily breathed, "I read the book, remember? I already knew what happened." Emma didn't seem convinced, but she was interrupted by David's hand on her shoulder before she could press him any further.

"Why don't we head downstairs? It's getting pretty late," he mumbled sullenly.

"Are things alright for us to go down there?"

"Your mother is talking with Neal in his bunker if you want to join her. Henry, why don't you and I go get ready for bed?" David looked at his grandson wearily. Henry reluctantly nodded and followed him across the deck towards the stairs. Emma dragged her heels behind the two of them as Regina walked beside her.

"You know it was bound to come up sometime," Regina muttered.

"Yeah I know. I just wish Henry didn't have to see Neal break down like that," she sighed.

"Or his grandfather," Regina nodded in agreement. If there was one thing that Emma and Regina could agree on, it was protecting Henry from these kinds of situations.

Catching the sight of Hook sitting at the stern of his ship alone, Emma let the others go on without her. From afar she could see his general dark figure hunched against the railing eerily still. As she hesitantly approached him, she noticed that his hook was detached from his hand. His head was buried in the crevice of one of his arms along the railing of the deck. Though her footsteps squealed a few of the old boards, Hook didn't look up to acknowledge her.

"What exactly were you trying to achieve?" Emma gritted through her teeth. At first Hook didn't move. She grew furious from his silence. "Hook!" She shouted at him.

He sighed and slowly lifted his head from his elbow. He straightened himself and stood tall to face the ravaged blonde, "I did him a service."

Without thinking Emma slapped his face as hard as she could. He didn't seem too moved by her sudden aggression, "Did that make you feel any better, love?"

"Whatever score you're trying to settle with Gold, leave my kid out of it. If you ever put him through a sight like that again, so help me God I'll-"

"You'll what?" He bitterly scoffed as he took a step closer to her. "What," his eyes perked amusingly, "exactly would you do to me?" As angry as she was, she couldn't answer him. Hook leaned closer to her. "That's right, love. You couldn't. As much as you'd like to, you don't have it in you," he whispered almost threateningly.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," Emma finally hissed. "You may have an issue with Gold, but what you did to Neal tonight was not fair."

"Oh because life is so fair," he quickly snapped. "That boy has been misled by a lie for hundreds of years. It is about time that crocodile starts facing the consequences of his actions."

"Are you serious?" Emma hissed, "You mutilated his relationship with Belle. You followed us to New York and stabbed him with that god awful hook."

"And yet I remain unsuccessful in avenging Milah's death," he muttered hotly.

Emma squeezed her fists tightly in frustration. "Look, I get that you're heartbroken over what Gold did. You can hate him for killing Milah all you want, but what you did tonight went beyond that. Neal was not ready to hear about his mother, especially with his kid sitting right in front of him, my kid!"

"It's all crossfire, love. You never knew Milah. You have no idea what kind of person she was-"

"Alright listen bud," she took a step closer to him as her eyes darkened, "I may not be a runaway pirate but I am a mother, and if you ever hurt Henry like you hurt Neal tonight I would throw your ass overboard. I can tell you as a mother that if Milah were alive today, she'd be going after you before even turning an eye to Gold."

Hook could not muster the confidence to challenge her. The last time he had seen Emma like this was when they were sword dueling for access to the portal to Storybrook. The threat that Cora might reach Henry had stirred an insuppressible fire within her. This was her protective side, her maternal side, and he knew never to challenge this side of her again.

They were suddenly interrupted by Regina, who had quietly approached the two of them during the heat of their discussion. "Emma your mother needs you downstairs," Regina sternly muttered.

She sighed and looked back at Hook frustratingly. "Just don't forget what I said," she growled as she turned to make her away down the steps.

"I'll leave it to you to remind me," Hook finally retorted when Emma was far enough away. Regina gave him a curious look as she stiffly crossed her arms. He smirked, "And what might I do for you tonight?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I overheard your conversation," she began. "Be aware that while Miss Swan has a pure heart and has limits to her threats, I don't." The lightness of her facade suddenly dropped. "If you ever put my child in a position like that again, I swear I will drag you down to the darkest chasms of the ocean where you will spend an eternity squirming like a worm under millions of tons of water pressure. As you may also remember, I am not one to make bluffs," she sneered in a hushed whisper. Hook nodded uncomfortably before Regina finally left him in safe solitude.

He thought to himself about all the mothers on this ship: Emma, Regina, and Mary Margaret. He thought about Milah and all of the little things about her that he loved: the way she'd tenderly speak to him whenever he was cross, how she would run her skinny fingers through his hair in the morning to wake him up, and also how protective she was over the younger ship mates whenever they were harassed. And he realized that these weren't just Milah traits, they were the traits of a mother.

And he knew that if she were alive right now, there was no doubt that she would be putting him through hell for the scene he just provoked. "I'm such a fool," he chuckled to himself and looked up to the night sky. "Sorry, love."


End file.
